Awhile ago I acquired a hamster. Her name is Tina. She has finally stopped threatening my life but she still doesn't like to be touched. Which is fine. She lives in Hamstertopia and has much to do by way of recreational redecorating with nightly runs on the purple hamster wheel of glee.

I've been feeding her petstore hamster food with some of my dogs' high quality kibble thrown in and fresh fruit and veggies as I have them. I know when I had rats, petstore food was not a great option. Is it the same for hammies? And if so, what should I be feeding her?

I always gave my hamsters some cooked meat and eggs for a treat, along with the kibbles. Also, lots of fresh fruits/veggies daily.

__________________Ella: 3 year old female ferretNacho: ~8 year old male ferretApollo: 5 year old male ferretSummer: 5 year old female ferretGoodbye, Rosey. You were the best girl I could have asked for. 10/15/96-03/08/13

With hamster food you want to avoid anything with Ethoxyquin, BHT or BHA. These were shown to increase the cancer risk in lab rats. You also want to aim for about 17% protein for most hamsters.

Like most have mentioned Harry/Hazel Hamster and Oxbow are good commercial foods. The Hazel Hamster that is sold in the US and Canada does contain soybean oil that is preserved with BHT, but it is a very small amount. If you choose the Oxbow, the old formula used to contain 17% protein but the new formula has lowered the protein content to 15% so you have to supplement the protein a little.

The list Fran posted is great, it breaks everything down nicely and highlights the good and bad ingredients.

Yeah this. Hazel Hamster and Oxbow are regarded as the best as far as commercial diets go. I mix my own for my rats but I have no clue if it is similar for hamsters.

This. From the commercial side of things, Oxbow and Supreme (Hazel Hamster) are the two best commercial foods out there - one is a mix, one is pelleted, so you could easily do a mixture of both. And of course, a variety of fresh foods.

She's so cute! I do really like hamsters, especially how they love to redecorate their cages.